BEND, Texas – The bluegrass sound of Dueling Hearts from Waco will highlight a day-long celebration of autumn in the outdoors Saturday, Oct. 23, as the Friends of Colorado Bend State Park host the park’s eighth annual fall festival.

Festivities run 9 a.m.-5 p.m. in the lodge area above Gorman Falls, the largest travertine waterfall in Texas, located an easy half mile walk from the festival area. Festival admission is free, but normal park entrance fees apply.

The festival supports the state park friends group, founded in 2000, which has led volunteer efforts to expand the park hike and bike trail system from 17 to 28 miles in the past few years, including several new intermediate to advanced mountain bike trails. The friends group also created an extensive Trails of Colorado Bend website with maps and information about the expanded trail system.

Festival visitors are invited to bring a lawn chair, blankets, cooler and sack lunch, as well as a guitar, banjo, fiddle, bass, mandolin, or dobro for a full day of great bluegrass music jamming. Those that wish to stay overnight may reserve tent camping reservation through the Texas State Parks reservation center at (512) 389-8900.

At 2 p.m., Dueling Hearts of Waco will play a free benefit concert. Ringleaders Wil and Darla Wilson were formerly members of a local band called “The Wortham Stringbenders” which played at bluegrass festivals thoughout Texas, Louisiana and Kansas. They recently formed the new four-piece band Dueling Hearts, playing cover songs and original works in the bluegrass and gospel traditions.

Colorado Bend State Park boasts a variety of outdoor recreation opportunities, including tent camping, hiking, mountain biking, picnicking, and birding. The park offers six miles of Colorado River frontage for fishing, tubing, kayaking and swimming.

Colorado Bend State Park is located near the small town of Bend on the Colorado River above Lake Buchanan, about an hour and a half from either Austin or Waco. Day use entry fees are $4 per adult, free for children 12 and under. For more information, phone at the park at (325) 628-3240.

PHOTOS of Gorman Falls are available for news media use as downloadable .jpg files in the News Images area of the TPWD website. Other park photos are available on request.

A short VIDEO showing all aspects of the park may be viewed on TPWD’s official YouTube channel.